There are numerous situations in which individuals live rather “apart from God” during portions of their lives. During those times, basically, things happen. For instance, I am a single mother of two wonderful children. I do not have a college degree and cannot get one until I pay off student loans from a previous attempt to attend college. Yes, I attended and did not finish. My children were young and things were just too rough. Some of you may think yourselves more righteous than someone like me, but such is life. None are perfect. We all make unwise decisions at some point in life. As the Word says, all have fallen short of the glory of God.

Not then, I do not receive any child support. Frankly, I’ve chosen not to pursue it because of the type of person the father is. I fear visitation rights when he’s in and out of jail on a regular basis, has been brought up on rape charges, etc. I’d rather live in extremely poor conditions than have him left alone with my children. I love them and would die in order to see their protection. Honestly, I don’t much trust our justice system in terms of “parental rights.” He doesn’t bother to come see them, which shows a lot to me as a mother.

At any rate, I work at a minimum wage job, earning around $7.65 an hour, part time. Note that it’s near impossible to get full time at this job because hours have been cut drastically. I bring home around $850 to $900 per month as income. We live in government housing because there is no way I can afford anything better. My children receive TennCare, though I have absolutely no insurance myself. Yes, we also receive Food Stamps as I could not fully feed my children alone. I have a mother who helps us out as much as she can. However, she also works in a low paying job and barely makes it herself.

I am in debt including student loans and medical bills. About the only way I could ever get them paid off is to do it at tax return times and even then it will take a few years.

I agree that I’ve made some absolutely horrible decisions in the past. Now that I am a believer in Christ, I also know that I am much better off.

You who don’t agree with individuals partaking in govenrment assistance, answer this question:

Should my children starve because I make poor decisions while lost? Should we all be without a roof over our heads? Should my children suffer medical illnesses for lack of insurance?

I’m not sure what your Mormon faith teaches you in terms of helping the poor, but I know what mine tells me.

We are a fallible people and often “make our own beds.” The difference is in the hope that in the end, we will see how we went wrong and work to improve. In my case, I don’t see my family coming off of government assistance for a very long time (at least, until after the children are grown) simply because I could never find a better paying job while without a college education. It is humiliating and I hate it with an undying passion. Though, I find myself eternally grateful because this is how God has chosen to provide for us at this point in time.

What bothered me most about this whole issue was the fact that people who follow Jesus are complaining about their tax dollars going to the needy. You may not agree with the idea that some are misusing those funds, but you would allow a few bad apples to harden your heart against those who are truly working and doing their best?

That reminds me of hearing folks state that they refuse to consider Christ because of the hypocrites in the Church. There are -always- going to be those who abuse any and every thing. Turning your back to a much-needed thing is akin to general stereotyping.

It’s just extremely disheartening to see how fellow believers view certain things.

My Bible tells me this:

Concerning the young man who wished to have eternal life.
Matthew 19:21
Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shall have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

Matthew 23:14
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

Matthew 25: 34 – 40
34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?

38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?

39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’

40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

Not everyone is able, or even meant, to attend college and possess the ability to make a wealthy life for themselves. Jesus spoke highly of the poor many times in scripture. This alone leads me to believe that though we will suffer in this life, we are truly blessed. We may be frowned upon and others may turn their noses up at us, but we can hold tight to the fact that our Savior loves us.

I may never climb the social ladder here on Earth or become one of the prestiged. Yet, my true wealth lies within my Lord, Jesus.

As a kid, I never thought of our family as poor. However, when I realized that a family we knew that received food through a non-profit (probably in addition to government assistance) ate better than us, I asked my mom why we didn’t. We had the essentials and she was proud of her independence.

I can see the ethical use of such programs (we did have church assistance for a time). However, what appalled me was to realize that another acquaintance milked the government for all she could. She didn’t get married so she could have welfare. That made me sick.

Now, as I know quite a few young Mormon couples using public assistance, I don’t really worry about it. They will be contributing members of society. And even if they are not, it is not my place to judge.

However, the most common use I see is of Medicaid (not food stamps). This really just makes me wish we had some type of universal healthcare system.

Putting the young families aside, I am absolutely appalled by the number of singles I know who are uninsured. It quite frankly scares me. Sometimes their families absorbs the costs, sometimes the church, and sometimes they acquire massive quantities of debt. I think the government should do more in this matter.

But pregnancy and/or deficits in personal finances are not always planned or even foreseeable. Therefore, I think that public assistance provides an important safety net of which young couples may sometimes have to avail themselves–even if they will be making plenty of money in a year or two.

I also find reliance on public assistance less objectionable if the couple actually supports the program later in life, and votes accordingly. What bothers me is when those same couples who relied on public funds to raise their young children later condemn, and vote against, social welfare programs. It strikes me as incredibly hypocritical.

If one’s family can’t help, the Lord’s “own way” includes the Church organization. The bishop is assisted by priesthood quorums and good sisters of the Relief Society, organized to look “to the wants of the poor, searching after objects of charity and … administering to their wants.”
So the teachings of the prophets and the church have not changed; they are the same as they always were on this issue. The people, however, have changed and what we are seeing now is a response to the change in the people–not the correct principles always taught.

Thank you for this great post that addresses such an important topic. I fear my brain is a bit tired, and I haven’t really ever had to have experience with this. I’ve received my education and always been able to afford my own health care, etc. And I don’t have children.

however, I look at several friends who took the opposite paths than I did, married young, had babies, are on various forms of welfare and why I never thought it was a good, these friends are some of the absolute best parents I know and I can’t imagine them not having their many children and not having their families.

It was so good to see you, by the way!

It then makes me feel guilty that they are going to the church for help, but I don’t think that just because we are blood-related means that I have to let them suck our finances dry and leave us destitute.

To my knowledge, none of them use much (or any) public assistance because that would be “bad”, but living as a dole off their family and church seems OK.